Jamie Dutton seems to always draw the short straw in the hit Western family drama Yellowstone. Always separated from his family and forced to continue to prove his worth, the Season 4 finale saw even more taken from when he lost the opportunity to run for Governor to his dad. Going into the new season, it's hard to imagine there's any further down that Jamie can fall, yet Season 5 promises to throw Jamie into the deep end once.
Wes Bentley sat down with CBR ahead of the Season 5 premiere of Yellowstone to chat about Jamie Dutton and the new trials he'll face in the coming episodes. He teased where the long-suffering Dutton son finds himself going into the new season and what new characters he'll find himself running up against. Bentley also shared how difficult it can be to separate himself from the character after five seasons.
CBR: So the big change this season is John Dutton taking on the governorship. I'm curious, how is Jamie handling his dad taking on this role that he wanted?
Wes Bentley: It's a real challenge for Jamie to see John in the position Jamie wanted to be in as governor, especially the way it went down and what he's had to do to even just stay alive and stay a part of the family. He's crushed, and he's checkmated. Now I think he's stewing but also, at the same time, doing his best to serve the governor and serve the state and serve his dad.
Speaking of all that he went through to find himself in this position, he has this incredibly tumultuous relationship with his family. Season 4 highlighted some real problems between him and Beth, and now he's dealing with his dad in this position that he wants. So how are his relationships this season?
It feels like he has zero relationships. He really does seem like he's alone, more than ever, and they're using him still. So he's around them again, but he's alone, even around them. He's desperately trying to find a footing and find a place and find a restart, but he can't help himself. It's too hard. What's happened is too painful, and the way they're acting in the governorship is a challenge as well. So he's having a very difficult time to start, and no one's there to help him. He's got no one to turn to.
Well, if Jamie is really in this position, it sounds like there's nowhere to go but up for him this season. What can we expect for him?
Well, I don't know. Yellowstone has a way of finding the down, for Jamie anyway. [laughs]
That's true.
You can expect to see a man boiling in anger and potentially dangerous because he's got nothing. He may not have anything to lose left.
Interesting. So can you talk a little bit about the process of prepping for this season, then? Were there any special training camps and the cowboy training camp again? Any new skills you picked up?
Well, for me, I don't really get to ride or do any of the cowboying stuff, so nothing like that. No, my preparation was all in when [Taylor Sheridan] sent the scripts just trying to navigate the feelings in Jamie, or the lack of feelings in Jamie, and just be as prepared for that as I could because he wrote some great scenes for me this season, and I wanted to match it.
That's great. You've been with this character now for so long. Is it easy to step back into Jamie, or is it more difficult now that he's so sort of lost and sunk?
I think after five seasons, he's got the floor. [laughs] It's hard to find Wes sometimes, and it takes a little time when I go home to reconnect with myself. Jamie's five years is -- it's mostly him now. [laughs]
Well, we don't know much about any of the guest stars coming up in this season. Are there any juicy scenes that you have with new characters that you haven't interacted with much before? Are there any good scene partners that you really get to chat with this season?
Yeah, an actress named Dawn Olivieri has come on to the show, and she plays Sarah Atwood, who is part of the Market Equities crew. She comes in to try and to join the fight to get that land back. Jamie has quite a few scenes with her that I really enjoyed because she's excellent. There was a lot of tension between the two of us, between the two characters, and a lot of real... I don't want to give away too much. So I'm sorry to dance around words, but she's a real... She kind of brings something out in Jamie that he didn't have before.
Yellowstone returns to television with Season 5 on Nov. 13 at 8 pm ET/PT on Paramount Network.